As the major association representing Nephrology Nursing in Europe, EDTNA/ERCA has the responsibility to continually strive to improve the quality of Nephrology Nursing practice, and to ensure the highest level of professional competence among its members.

Education is very important for the professional development of a Nephrology Nurse. Established in 1996, the Education Board has the delegated responsibility for the development and implementation of education policy.

The aims of the Education Board are:

	Identify the education needs of members and co-ordinate activities
	Stimulate, advise and support education activities within the Nephrology health care field
	Monitor and approve education projects
	Seek recognition of the Association’s education activities at national and international level in conjunction within the EDTNA/ERCA Liaison Officers of the E.U. and W.H.O.
	Recognise and certify education activities submitted for approval to the Association
	Develop and maintain links with professional Associations, renal patients Associations and Renal Care Industry for the accomplishment of mutual education goals

To review the different projects and the publications initiated by the Education Board, please click on below links:

• Online Education
• Online Learning Project
• Publications

To review the list of Education Board Members (including pictures and bios) please visit the Leadership Directory.

To learn more click here

The online educational programme is an initiative from the EDTNA/ERCA Education Board (EB) The aim is to keep members up-to-date with current practice by providing opportunities for continuing professional development. Topics include:

• Diabetic nephropathy
• Vascular access
• Nutrition
• Paediatrics
• Patient education

A new topic is posted every two months!

Members are invited to review a number of websites and/or download articles from the internet. There are sections to update general knowledge on the specified topic, and also a section which contains a selection of the latest publications on the topic. After reviewing the references, members to the site are asked to evaluate their knowledge and reflect on possible improvements to patient care.

To learn more click here

During the Birmingham 2003 Conference, the National Associations had an opportunity to meet and were provided with a proposal for a collaborative project, “Developing a competency framework for renal nurses”. Eleven National Associations worked together on this project and have undertaken surveys in these countries on the skills and tasks of renal nurses. The outcome from these surveys is the completed competencies here, which can be taken as a whole package, or individual competencies can be used as appropriate for the individual clinician or the country they work in.

The aims of this project were to develop a European Competency Framework, initially for renal nurses and in the future to expand this framework for other healthcare professionals, such as renal technicians, social workers and dieticians. For the purposes of defining the competency set for nephrology clinicians across Europe. The project group decided to base it on the Benner framework (1984) from Novice to Expert.

The Education Board would like to hear from you. Please review the project and share your comments with Melissa Chamney, Project Lead.

Result of Project:

All the competencies are multidisciplinary in their approach and cover haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, renal transplantation, general ward and pre dialysis issues. The completed document is in English and sooner in Portuguese and we hope that National Associations will take the work forward and translate the document into their preferred language.

We hope that this project will be able to provide an adaptable booklet which can be translated into different languages and modified by different countries for use in renal units across Europe, for the benefit of both staff and patients.

Assessors Guidelines (English)
Competency Book (English)